business resources
How Trump Media Bet on Bitcoin and Lost $406 Million
25 Jun 2026
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the Nasdaq-listed parent of social platform Truth Social and streaming service Truth+, reported a net loss of $405.9 million for the first quarter of 2026 against revenue of just $871,200 over the same period.
This revenue breaks down into $810,100 from media operations and $61,100 in management fees from its nascent financial arm, Truth.Fi. The gap is not new: TMTG has never generated meaningful advertising or subscription income. As of March 31, 2026, the company held $2.2 billion in total assets and carried a market capitalization of approximately $2.47 billion.
The disconnect between operational performance and headline valuation has long defined the stock and remains central to understanding what went wrong. Trump has accustomed markets to his ability to influence oil prices and stock markets through executive orders and military actions. But that approach doesn't seem to be applicable here.
The explanation lies in a deliberate strategic shift carried out throughout 2025. After the company went public via a SPAC merger in March 2024, TMTG later announced a $2.5 billion fundraising round that was primarily earmarked for aggressive positioning in digital assets.
The timing also openly coincided with Donald Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrency. A position he had publicly reinforced, including through the launch of a personal meme coin — a factor that proved important for investor sentiment.
Starting in July 2025, TMTG started accumulating Bitcoin at an average cost of approximately $108,519 per coin. By March 31, 2026, it had 9,542 BTC with a total cost basis of about $1.13 billion. But that wasn’t the only move.
Beyond Bitcoin, the company bought 756 million Cronos (CRO) tokens, which is the native token of the Crypto.com exchange, for $113.9 million. This was tied to a partnership in which CRO was used as a reward for engagement on Truth Social, so basically users got incentivized.
Bitcoin price fell approximately 22% during the first quarter of 2026, its steepest quarterly decline since 2018, dropping from around $126,000 to roughly $80,000.
By quarter-end, TMTG's Bitcoin holdings were valued at approximately $647 million: nearly $500 million below their $1.13 billion cost basis. The CRO position performed even worse, declining to roughly $53 million from a $113.9 million acquisition cost.
Combined unrealized losses on digital assets along with equity securities hit $368.7 million for Q1 only and were basically the main reason behind that $405.9 million net loss. Most of what was left after that came from stock-based compensation ($11.8 million) and accreted interest ($11.5 million).
One important nuance, however, is that these were non-cash mark-to-market accounting losses rather than direct cash outflows. In reality, TMTG actually generated $17.9 million in positive operating cash flow during the quarter, marking its fourth consecutive quarter of positive operating cash flow. That was aided partly by a covered-call options strategy tied to its pledged Bitcoin holdings.
Then, in late 2025, TMTG announced a merger with TAE Technologies, a California-based nuclear fusion research company, set up as an all-stock deal worth more than $6 billion. The merged entity would become one of the first publicly traded fusion companies, bringing TAE and its subsidiaries (TAE Power Solutions and TAE Life Sciences) under the TMTG holding structure alongside Truth Social, Truth+, and Truth.Fi.
Ethics experts have flagged potential conflicts of interest: TAE has received federal government funding, and Trump holds a controlling economic interest in TMTG through a revocable trust managed by Donald Trump Jr., all while serving as president. The Campaign Legal Center has called on Trump to divest.
